Don Grigware - Page 30

Bobby Moresco is an Academy Award-winning writer, director and producer, hailing from Hell's Kitchen, New York. In 2007, Moresco received an Oscar for co-writing the feature film CRASH . Other features include, Academy Award-winner MILLION DOLLAR BABY and 10TH & WOLF , starring James Marsden, which was his directorial debut. Moresco's TV credits include EZ Streets , Falcone , and The Black Donnellys . He is currently producing WORKING at the Whitefire Theatre to play Thursdays October 12-November 9. by Steve Peterson

It's quite rare and a sheer delight when an original bio hits the mark bigtime onstage. There have been many shows over the years about iconic stars like Marilyn Monroe, Judy Garland, Charlie Chaplin, John Barrymore among others. but only Barrymore stands apart as memorable. CAGNEY currently playing the El Portal through October 29 goes a giant step beyond; not only is it a genuinely intelligent biography, but also has great drama, romance and musical entertainment for one and all. Opening off-Broadway in 2016, the show was nominated for several Drama Desk and Outer Critics Circle Awards, and witnessing the terrifically dynamic ensemble of six actors headed by Robert Creighton as James Cagney, it's easy to see why. Creighton not only looks like Cagney, but possesses a similar Irish personality and tough yet tender charm that made the original talent such an icon. The other five actors surrounding him Danette Holden, Josh Walden, Jeremy Benton, Ellen Z. Wright and Bruce Sabath are triple threat performers who brilliantly play a myriad of characters each.

Emmy and Golden Globe nominated actress Susan Sullivan has been delighting audiences onstage and on television for many years. She is currently a part of LA Theatre Works production of Lillian Hellman's Watch on the Rhine. In our chat she talks about her role and others that she has played in her varied career. Tell us about your role in Watch on the Rhine. This character really makes a great sacrifice. Talk about that.

Young Frankenstein/book by Mel Brooks & Thomas Meehan/music & lyrics by Mel Brooks/original direction recreated by David Lamoureux/original choreography recreated by Daniel Smith/musical director: Corey Hirsch/3-D Theatricals at Redondo Beach Performing Arts Center/through October 15/October 20-29 at Cerritos Center for the Performing Arts I revert to childhood when I see a Mel Brooks movie or show. The sillier the better: the sight gags, the double entendres, the more the merrier. The New Mel Brooks Musical, Young Frankenstein is a real rip-roaring hoot of a show from start to finish as produced by 3-D Theatricals with a great cast and zippy fast-paced direction and fine staging from David Lamoureux, recreating the original of Susan Stroman and Daniel Smith recreating her choreography.

Does everyone believe in God? Obviously, some do and some do not. For those that do, how deep does that faith go? Shelah (Phylicia Rashad) lives in her old decaying homestead in Head of Passes, where the Mississipi River meets the Gulf of Mexico. The time is now. She is dying but will not be treated by a doctor, even though Doctor Anderson (James Carpenter) is a family friend. She believes in the power of the Lord, and when the play begins, she has called a family gathering to bring her sons and daughter together to discuss sharing the property she is about to will them. Currently at MTF, Tarell Alvin McCraney has created a powerful play Head of Passes with the brilliant Rashad heading an outstanding cast of eight, directed meticulously by Tina Landau, through October 22.

Belle R ve Theatre Company (Executive Producer Michelle M. N ez, Producers Suzanne Warren and Tanya Cohen) presents their inaugural production of Time Alone a World Premiere by Alessandro Camon (Academy Award nominee The Messenger ) starring Tony Award winner Tonya Pinkins (Jelly's Last Jam, Caroline or Change, ABC Scandal) and Alex Hernandez (Peter and the Starcatcher, Richard III NYC Public Theatre Mobile Unit), at Theatre 2, Los Angeles Theatre Center, 514 S Spring Street Los Angeles, September 30 to October 29 .

Who can top the master of suspense Alfred Hitchcock? His stamp on any work makes it eternally the best. Book adaptor Patrick Barlow takes a suspenseful Hitchcock film (1935) of the same name The 39 Steps and fashions a thoroughly entertaining, highly comedic and cinematically monumental suspense yarn for the stage. Director Kevin Chesley and the fine 4-member cast at Actors Co-op make it work as good as it can get anywhere, anytime.

KEVIN CHESLEY has directed, written and performed sketch comedy for stages like Upright Citizens Brigade (LA and NYC), The iO (Chicago and West), and the Vancouver Comedy Festival. He is a co-founder of TROOP! and The Riot Act, troupes that have performed in venues like The Comedy Central Stage, The HBO Workspace, and The Chicago Improv Festival. For ten years he has directed The Apple Sisters, a staged 1943 radio show that very much helped prepare him to dive into the 1935 world of The 39 Steps. He was also a director for The Hampstead Players Theater Company. A screenwriter, Kevin has written for The Onion, National Lampoon, and MTV's The Hard Times of RJ Berger, as well as screenplays for Warner Brothers, Paramount, Bad Robot, Happy Madison, and 20th Century Fox. He has Executive Produced pilots for both NBC and Cartoon Network. Training: Act One Hollywood, BFA Emerson College. He is currently directing The 39 Steps for Actors Co-op about to open Friday September 22.

Matthew Bourne and his New Adventures Company spell electricity from the getgo. When critics, actors and other fans heard that Bourne was bringing the premiere US production of The Red Shoes to the Ahmanson for two weeks only, it instantly became a hot ticket. Why? What he produces and directs supercedesballet; even wordless, it's as theatrical as you can get with visual images and musical sounds that are super exciting to watch and listen to...and the music of Bernard Herrmann accompanying this piece is one of the greatest treats imaginable.

Upon entering the Rubicon opening night, I first remarked the bare stage with four chairs against a solid color background that would serve as a sort of screen for projections (Mike Billings-set, lighting, projection designer). This kind of setup usually indicates that there is no set for the play and that the actors will sit and move about to create the scenarios. This can be a good thing or bad depending on the content and framework of the play. In this case Incognito, a west coast premiere by British playwright Nick Payne presents on the surface quite a bit to swallow. The message beneath, however, is much more simplistic and the ensemble of actors under the supremely intelligent direction of Katharine Farmer make the play worth a trip to Ventura to the Rubicon Theatre now through October 1.

Frequently described as a cross between steel and gossamer, Kander and Ebb's musical of Manuel Puig's mind-boggling novel Kiss of the Spider Woman is nothing short of breathtaking when properly produced. Dealing with reality versus illusion (steel, for prison bars and gossamer, the feminine side of Molina's mind), the play adapts perfectly to musical form, where Molina (Jeffrey Scott Parsons) and his troupe play out Aurora's (Natalie Nucci) screen life through song and dance. In fact, I've always found the musical more intriguing than Hector Babenco's 1985 film also because of the omnipresent operatic themes of romance, love, passion, violence and betrayal.

Plays about religion are most difficult to digest, but Somewhere in the middle, a world premiere by Gary Lamb at Crown City Theatre, is overall a nice surprise. Presenting a contemporary middle class family from the midwest with crisp funny dialogue and relatable family issues that involve precocious children and a somewhat overbearing live-in grandma, the play is simultaneously thought-provoking and entertaining. Sarah (Julie Lancho

Neil Simon's Pulitzer Prize-winning dramedy Lost in Yonkers followed his autobiographical trio Brighton Beach Memoirs, Biloxi Blues and Broadway Bound. Critics started to take him seriously as a playwright with these plays for he was writing about his own family's life experiences. Lost in Yonkers is set in 1942 in Yonkers, New York where Grandma Kurnitz (Loraine Shields) and her daughter Bella (Roslyn Cohn) run the family confectionery store and live in a modest apartment upstairs. Now in a stunning production at the GROUP rep, Larry Eisenberg directs a perfectly cast ensemble who make the play shine brightly through October 22. Humor is Simon's best suit. This is drama, but... there is plenty of comedy emanating

1993's rarely produced Sunset Boulevard is a somewhat flawed musical play that satisfies best with the casting of an actress of great star quality as Norma Desmond, one whose face could have convincingly lit up a silent film screen. Moonlight Amphitheatre has its star in Valerie Perri, and under Larry Raben's resourcefully skilled staging, Sunset Boulevard is a hit.

A small town Tennessee Southern Baptist sissy Levi Kreis has taken LA, New York and the world by storm within this millenium. When he performs not only gays flock to see him. He has many, many straight fans as well. Why? Because this phenomenon is one enormous talent who, as my mom used to say, can make a piano TALK. He won a Tony for playing Jerry Lee Lewis in Million Dollar Quartet and has developed a fast-paced, heart-pounding style like no other singer of this generation. He is mesmerizing to watch and a dynamite pleasure to listen to.  On Saturday August 19 Kreis (pronounced like Christ without the t by his own admission) performed his solo show at LGBT in Hollywood . He is on tour to promote his latest CD Broadway at the Keys. To say the show was a hit with the audience is an understatement, as most lined up in the lobby following the 80-minute set to purchase the CD and to meet the charismatic singing/songwriting star for a selfie and a signature.

What can I say about HAMILTON that hasn't already been said one hundred times over? I was excited to attend opening night at the Hollywood Pantages Theatre. I haven't seen so much over.the.top yet genuine enthusiasm for a show since the original Dreamgirls with Jennifer Holliday in the 1980s. Audience screamed and cheered the entrances of every major character. At the top, I was so propelled into the setting and the action of the American Revolution in 1776 that I forgot I was watching an historical show...and that says a lot because I am not a fan of rap music. However, for those of you like me, you are in for a treat, because its heart-pounding beats drive the show with a thrilling nonstop execution like no other.

Remember The Marvelous Wonderettes and Life Could Be a Dream? Creator Roger Bean had two tremendous musical hits in these shows. The Marvelous Wonderettes featured four FBF, and Life... four guy pals. They both focused on living your dream to the fullest, and featured young teens aspiring to the max. Both had great background pop songs of the 50s, 60 and beyond. Wonderettes went beyond the teen years with two sequels Winter Wonderettes and Caps and Gowns, in which we saw the gals grow up and meet life's struggles head on. On the shelf since about 2005, Honky Tonk Laundry is Bean's two character musical a la Always Patsy Cline, where he took pop country music and let two ladies have their way with it. They become best friends in the process, compared to Thelma and Louise. Currently onstage at the Hudson in Hollywood, Honky Tonk Laundry is a big audience winner due to its dynamic stars Bets Malone and Misty Cotton, who sing and act the bejesus out of it. Some might call it overkill with anyone else, but these two uber talents keep the audience begging for more. In Roger Bean musicals, the plot is slight and overshadowed by the fun musical numbers and silly dia

What a deliciously exciting and provocative evening in the theatre! The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time, adapted by Simon Stephens from Mark Haddon's novel, comes to vivid life as a play within a play with a fascinating array of visual effects, a dynamite ensemble and a remarkable performance by Adam Langdon under the skilled direction of Marianne Elliott. It graces the Ahmanson stage through September 10 only.

Barbara Minkus is a dynamically talented singer/actress who commands the stage in I'm Not Famous, her latest and most complete autobiographical show. She just finished a sold-out run at the Santa Monica Playhouse where she got extended twice. I believe the show is slated to travel across country and on to New York. It definitely should, as this story is so well honed,  and has universal appeal and great meaning for anyone who has ever gotten stuck along the way to fulfilling one's dreams. Minkus goes back to age 3 when she sang for the first time in Chicago. Her father owned a famous department store. She called her mother a shoplifter because they had a room in their house named the Instant Gift Room. Mom would fill it with toys, clothes and anything else she could find at the store and keep them on hand for family birthdays, bar

Actor/singer James Snyder premiered his touring cabaret show Soliloquy at the Catalina Jazz Club under the prolific banner Chris Isaacson Presents Thursday July 20. Snyder is one of those handsome Broadway leading men whose magnetic appeal is greatly assisted not only by boyish charm but more importantly by an infectiously off beat sense of humor, unpredictability...and... he has one of the most beautifully powerhouse tenor/baritone voices onstage anywhere. I can only think of one or two others who fill the bill as completely well as Snyder.